Faithful
by BabyPrin
Summary: He had the best intentions at heart, but his efforts seemed to have been misinterpreted. How does the resident genius explain himself out of this one? When in doubt, give the girl a flower. DxOC


**Faithful**

Darishelle took a deep breath as she waited for her presence to be acknowledged.

The wall panel light to her left changed from still green to a flickering blue; indicating that the owner of the room had granted her entry. The metallic door swooshed open soon after and she stepped in.

Her eyes did a quick scan of her sister's quarters. The spacious room was well-kept with nothing out of place: every cushion fluffed, each furnishing aligned and all decors and frames in place.

She had to bite back a laugh. It was so unlike hers and their other two siblings'.

"Hey."

She turned towards the source of the voice and blinked several times to make sure that she wasn't imagining things.

"Leonardo?"

He chuckled at the perplexed expression on her face. "Lori said that you wanted to talk to her. I'll just show myself out."

Her eyes followed him as he exited the room; still surprised to have found him there.

"It's not what you're thinking."

She snapped out of her trance and found herself face to face with her apparently amused sister.

"Leo and I were just talking."

"Talking." she echoed.

"Yes, Darishelle, talking."

"In your room."

"In my room."

"Right."

"Dart!"

"I'm sorry, sis, but Leo IS rather, uh, frisky --- to say the least."

"What?!"

"I've seen the two of you. Him. His hands." She answered, while moving her hands around, obviously embarrassed about what she was trying to say.

Lorishelle felt herself blush. "True, but he doesn't assert himself. He stops on his own."

The younger one giggled. "You seem rather disappointed."

"Dart!"

"I won't prod." She said as she raised her hands up, palms out. "I really don't want to know."

Lori quickly composed herself and watched her sister's expression change.

"What's wrong?"

"Hmmm? What makes you think that something is wrong?"

"You've asked to see me;" Lori began, "which usually means that something on your mind is bothering you." She motioned for Dart to take a seat on the divan at the end of her bed. "And I've noticed that you've been even more quiet than usual for a number of suns now."

Darishelle sat and heaved a sigh. She didn't say anything for several moments until she finally asked, "Do you think I'm unappealing?"

Lori tilted her head in confusion but recovered instantly. "Of course not!"

"Bland?"

"No!"

"Dull?"

"No!"

"Disgusting?"

"No!"

She sighed again. "And you're not just saying that because you're my sister?"

"I am not just saying that because I'm your sister!" the eldest exclaimed, still confused. "Darishelle, what is this --- ?"

"Then why doesn't Donatello like me?"

Lorishelle took the seat beside her sister and gathered her thoughts, in some way relieved to finally find out what the discussion was going to be about. "What makes you say that?"

"The three other male turtles have long been very vocal, and not to mention physical, about how they feel about you and Rose and Shelly. Donatello, on the other hand, not only has not said anything, but seems to absolutely abhor the idea of being left alone with me!"

"Donatello comes across as rather muted and shy; just like you. He's probably just pacing himself."

"By spending most of his free time with our father?"

"Well, the good news is, daddy seems to like him."

The olive-skinned turtlette crossed her arms over her chest and sulked.

"Darishelle, surrounding himself with technology is where he is most comfortable. You of all turtles should understand that."

"But where do I fit in all that?" Dart countered, distressed. "Maybe Donny just doesn't feel the same way. He's more interested in what Shellri-La has to offer rather than me."

Lori reached out to wipe the tear the fell on her sister's cheek. She has never seen her sister this emotional before. This was the logical princess; the one who used her head. She sometimes forgets that Dart is all heart, too. She sighed. For all her experience in giving her siblings guidance, she was unusually stumped with this one. And she didn't like the feeling at all.

BEEP

"Excuse me, your highness," came the voice of their mechanical guardian, Jervaise, above their heads. "But Donatello is asking about the whereabouts of Princess Darishelle."

Lori glanced at her sister. "Did he say why he was looking for her?"

"Only that he wanted to talk to her."

"Where is he now?"

"In the common room. I believe Leonardo is with him at the moment."

A thought came to her.

"Inform Donatello that Darishelle will be joining him in a while." She began, ignoring the shocked expression on her sister's face. "And please ask Leonardo to return here."

"Yes, princess."

BEEP

"Lori! What --- ?!?"

"Whatever it is Don wants to talk about, I want you to go to him. There's no point in avoiding him. This might just be your chance to tell him how you feel."

"You want me to… ?"

"Yes, I figured, if he's not going to make the first move, you might as well be the one to. You're probably going to hate me for putting you in this situation, but I can't stand seeing you like this… so uncertain and miserable. It is better for you to know now. It's what makes sense at the moment, don't you think?"

Darishelle nodded reluctantly. She knew that Lori was right.

"I'll be here, okay?" Lorishelle assured her, as she covered her sister's hand with her own.

She knew.

And she was worried that she would be running to her much sooner than she wanted.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

She found him seated on the sofa, seemingly deep in thought. He had his face buried in his hands; chanting some sort of mantra to himself over and over.

She wanted to run away but before she could move, he senses her presence, looks up and sees her.

"Hey."

Darishelle forced a smile. "Hey."

The muted greeting did not go unnoticed by the perceptive ninja. Donatello decided to let it slide for the time being as he stood up.

"I've been looking for you."

"So I heard."

"I wanted to talk to you about something."

She felt her stomach do multiple flips inside her.

"Dart? Are you okay? You look a little pale." He asked her; his voice full of concern as he noticed the color from her face seemed to have disappeared.

"I'm…"

"You should sit down." He said, approaching her with quick strides and reaching out for her arm to guide her towards the stuffed seat.

She unexpectedly jerked her limb away from his grasp and lowered her head so that he could not see her face.

"You wanted to talk. I'm listening."

Donatello was taken aback. He has never heard her take that tone with him --- or with anyone for that matter. It was rather cold and he didn't like it one bit. In fact, he felt hurt by it.

"All right." He answered, trying to remain unruffled by what just happened. "Let's get straight to the point, then. I've noticed that you've been avoiding me the past few days and I want to know why."

"Avoiding you?" she all but spat out, still not looking at him. "What makes you think that I have been avoiding you?"

"Dart, is there something you'd like to tell me?"

_This might just be your chance to tell him how you feel._

"As a matter of fact, no, there is nothing that I would want to discuss with you."

"Listen, this isn't going to solve anything." Donatello said, his tone changing. "If you're not going to tell me what's wrong, then I won't be able to fix whatever it is. You've been avoiding me and now apparently, you're also angry at me for some reason and I'd like to know why."

"Why is it so important to you anyway?" she asked, finally looking up. "It's not like you care about me." Darishelle bit her tongue. Donatello stared at her mortified expression and met it with his own bewildered look.

_Since when have I spoken before thinking?!? _

But now that she had said what she had, she knew there was no turning back.

"And if you haven't noticed, YOU'RE the one who started avoiding me. You'd leave the room if it were just the two of us in it and you seem to prefer to explore our laboratories than to be left alone with me. You spend more time with my father than you do with me!"

Donatello continued to stare blankly at her.

She didn't like that he hadn't said anything and it only reinforced that gnawing feeling at the pit of her stomach. She sighed in resignation and turned to leave.

"Wait." he finally spoke as he grabbed her by the arm. "Where did THAT come from?"

When she didn't answer or turn to face him, he reached out with his free hand to grab her other arm. "What gave you the idea that I don't care about you?"

"I've already told you." She said, looking every where but at him. "Why must you prolong my agony?" She squirmed in his hold. "Let me go!"

"Not until we resolve this. Please," he begged, his voice hushed now, "Dart, look at me."

She reluctantly raised her head to meet his eyes.

"I think it's about time we set the record straight." he said, as he let her go. "Promise me that you'll let me speak; allow me to explain myself."

The princess slowly nodded and held her gaze with his.

"It's not that I've been intentionally avoiding you and I never meant for it to be interpreted that way." He began, as one of his hands reached behind his neck and began rubbing it --- a gesture he was known to do when he was nervous. "Shell, how will I do this?"

Darishelle looked at him and found the uncertain look on his face rather endearing.

"Let's face it, Mikey's the funny one, Leo's got charm and Raph pretty much just says and does what he wants. Me, well, I'm the smart one, but I absolutely have no clue as to what to do when I'm around you. I get flustered, my mind blanks out and my innards run amuck at the mere sound of your voice. I just know that I'll make a complete fool out of myself so I try to get your attention by doing things that I know you love to do."

_Is he saying that he…?_

"I like you." He declared, as blood rose to his cheeks. "There, I said it."

_What?_

"I like you." He said again, as if hearing her thoughts. "I really, really like you."

It was her turn to blush now.

"That didn't go as romantically as I had imagined." He grinned sheepishly then chuckled. "But, I think what's important is that we're clear about where I stand and how I feel about you." His smile suddenly faded when he noticed her crying. "Dart? Did I say something…?"

"No." she interrupted, as her mouth curved upwards. "You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that." She sniffed. "I like you, too. Very, very much." She said, almost laughing.

His smile returned as he reached out to wipe some of the tears off her cheeks. "I made something for you." He said, as his other hand reached behind his shell. "I hope you like it."

She looked down at his open hand and saw what appeared to be violet paper intricately folded into a small flower.

"I tried to stay true to its form." He said. "I wanted to give you a Viola, a flowering plant on Earth commonly called a Violet of the genus Violaceae." He began to explain. "Their Flower colors vary, ranging from violet, as their common name suggests, through various shades of blue, yellow, white, and cream, whilst some types are bicolored, often blue and yellow."

Darishelle knew that Earthlings gave each other plantlife to signify some message or another. "Why this flower?" she asked, quite curious.

"A Violet means 'faithfulness'. So if there was ever any doubt in your mind about me, then from now on, there shouldn't be." He took her hand and placed the origami piece onto her open palm before continuing, "Princess Darishelle, remember that I will always be true to you."

"Oh, Donny, that's the sweetest thing." was all she could say to him as she smiled, giggled and cried all at the same time. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him for a thankful embrace. She felt him start at her action but soon recovered and returned her hug.

Moments ticked by and he pulled slightly away from her and met her eyes with his once again. She had stopped crying by then, much to his reprieve. He lowered himself so that he could reach and plant a kiss on her nose which made her blush even more. "From now on, princess, it's going to be you and me."

"You and me." She echoed, smiling even more.

Donatello shifted his attention from her eyes to her mouth and lowered his head once more. She tiptoed so they could meet half way. And just when they were about to kiss, the doors swooshed open.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

"Great." Don muttered under his breath.

"Dude, I can't believe we walked into this."

Darishelle felt somewhat embarrassed to be caught at that moment and was just about ready to pull away when she felt Donatello's hands on her shoulders.

"Ignore them." He ordered, his voice firm and low.

She looked back at him and met his eyes. She felt her heart beating frantically as his face inched closer to hers. She knew that the other occupants in the room were saying things; cajoling, hooting and teasing even. But all the ruckus disappeared when she closed her eyes and felt, for the first time, her lover's mouth on hers.

"'Bout time you figured THAT out, genius!" Raphael hollered.

Donatello's hands slid from her shoulders down to her arms before finally settling at her sides and drawing her even closer to him.

It took a while before Dart reluctantly decided to end the kiss and gently pushed herself inches from his reach. She cupped the side of his face with her free hand and smiled.

"Wait 'til everyone hears about this!" Michelangelo exclaimed.

The resident genius tenderly removed her hand from his face and turned to glare at his brothers who were still standing at the doorway. "I'm counting to five. You should be gone by then."

"Or what?"

"Remember the upgrades that you wanted on the shell cycle," he said to Raphael, before turning his attention to Michelangelo, "and your video game console?"

The two intruders exchanged glances and headed out the room without another word.

Dart couldn't stifle a laugh. "Why Donatello, I didn't know you could be so… forceful."

"Only with those two." He answered, smiling as he diverted his attention back at her.

She giggled once again before bringing up her hand that held the gift that he made for her.

It was a sweet promise --- one he kept until the end of their lives.

And even at the beginning of their new one.

_I will always be true to you._


End file.
